The First Step to Living Green

Switch your current credit cards over to those that contribute to environmental causes. But what companies offer them? Below is a short list:

San Francisco-based Working Assets was founded in 1985 and currently offers a Visa card program that donates 10-centsto an array of non-profit groups such as the ACLU, Ms. Foundation For Women, Doctors Without Borders, and Earth Justice. Encouraging consumers to remain conscious about their decisions and not passive, the organization's website also accepts donations online. Working Assets also publishes Credo Action, a blog that lays out how to contact Congressional representatives in order to make your voice heard.

The Nature Conservancy also offers a Visa card that directs a fraction of consumer purchases toward wildlife preservation, and the GreenPayMastercard reduces the amount of carbon-dioxide in the air. Additionally, Green Pay offers a members a new account bonus of removing 10,000 pounds of CO2 immediately following one's first credi tcard purchase. Large corporations jumped on to this growing demand as early as last Summer. In July 2007, General Electric launched their Earth Rewards MasterCard that will set aside as much as 1% of a cardholder’s total spending toward a handful of projects that are focused on reducing the amount of greenhouse emissions. In November 2007, Bank of America announced its offering of the Brighter Planet Credit Card and stated that every 1,000 points earned with consumer purchases will fund about1-ton of carbon offsets.

But how can consumers be sure that they are also going to the right vendors for their purchases? ClimateCooler.com is an online shopping website that calculates the total amount of greenhouse gases that was used to make and ship each product that is ordered and then charges each vendor a fee which is then used as an investment geared to eliminate greenhouse gas pollution. The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment recently launched an online shopping site, Shopbcue.org that connects environmentally conscious consumers with stores that share their views. For food items, and the like, one should never forget o connect to LocalHarvest.org in order to find out more about the closest CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) or to find out where to get the freshestproduce.

With these options, none of us have to rely so heavilyon governmental policies to change the world.